After releasing a report that its first-quarter profits have topped its forecasted quarterly earnings, FedEx Corp, the country’s second-largest package shipping company, has watched its shares surge in its biggest daily gain in the last several months. According to the company’s preliminary results, FedEx will eventually post earnings of 58 cents per share.
Originally, the company had predicted earnings of anywhere from 30 to 45 cents per share while the average analyst expectation for FedEx’s profits settled at 45 cents per share. Its strong performance may indicate that the shipping industry has begun to recover, especially in the profitable service of …read more

According to its quarterly financial reports, tax preparer H&R Block has posted a first-quarter loss that has barely changed from this time a year ago, but that outstripped analyst expectations for the company’s loss. H&R Block blames its results on higher costs and acquisition expenses, both of which managed to displace H&R’s slightly larger revenue for this quarter.
 
Posting a loss in its fiscal first quarter is nothing strange to H&R Block, which typically does not do as well in its first two fiscal quarters than in the second half of the fiscal year because of tax season. However, H&R Block …read more

Cisco Systems Inc. is bracing for a drop in revenue for its fourth consecutive quarter, signaling the recession’s impact on the world’s largest maker of networking products. The company’s first fiscal quarter, which ends in October, will show a 15 to 17 percent drop in revenue, according to a recent company statement. 
 
As far as the actual numbers go, Cisco’s revenue will fall from $10.4 billion just a year ago to somewhere between $8.6 and $8.8 billion due to global sales of routers and switches falling 20 percent this year. These products account for about half of Cisco’s total sales.
 
Cisco’s shares …read more

Computer security software maker Symantec Corp. has posted a disappointing 58 percent drop in profits from a year ago in its fiscal first-quarter report, blaming the situation on the softening of demand on the part of corporate customers. In response to the company’s report, shares slid more than 7 percent to $15.90 in late trading.
 
Symantec took in $1.43 billion in revenue this quarter, down from $1.65 billion, and posted earnings of 34 cents per share, excluding special items. Analyst expectations had the software company doing somewhat better, predicting $1.49 billion in revenue and 35 cents per share. Symantec CFO James …read more

Things aren’t looking great for clothing company Guess: according to a report issued by the company, fiscal first-quarter profits are down significantly. The silver lining on the cloud, though, is that because the company’s expectations were set even lower, Guess stocks rose in value during after-hours trading.
Guess profits have fallen from 32 percent, from $47.8 million, or 50 cents per share, this time last year to $32.5 million, or 35 cents per share. Analyst predictions had Guess doing much worse, with the average estimate somewhere around 29 cents per share.
During this time period, revenue fell 10 percent to $441.2 million, …read more

Monster Worldwide, the parent company for a variety of websites such as Monster.com, Military.com, Tickle.com, Fastweb.com and HMForces.co.uk, saw its revenue plummet in the first quarter of 2009. Considering that their main property is Monster.com and unemployment is at a high not seen in decades, it’s not surprising that the parent company is struggling.
For the quarter ending on March 31st, Monster Worldwide had revenue around $254 million. In the first quarter of 2008, the company had revenue of more than $365 million. The fall from last year to this year was over 30%.
Profit, as would be expected, also was down. …read more